Having made a visit to Palm Mar specifically to visit a tapas bar only to find the shutters firmly down despite it supposedly being normal business hours, you could say I wasn´t best pleased. It could have been overlooked if this had been the first occurrence but this was the second time it had happened. It emerged the staff had taken ill and nobody had thought to stick a notice on the door informing would be customers.

I am a great believer that things happen for a reason so not to be daunted we looked at what we initially thought was just a cake shop a few doors along the walkway from our intended destination.

Baobab made a buzzy setting for an informal lunch and we discovered the menu is freshly cut and filled sandwiches, cakes, decent coffee as well as soft drinks and alcohol.

I opted for the Chicken, Iberian Ham, Tomato and Manchego Cheese while Linda chose Bacon, Egg, Pork, Cheese and onion. The food is more than competent, being fresh as well as reasonably priced. The service friendly and efficient, it may look casual, but you get the feeling that the staff ‘own’ the place.

I have since mentioned it to a couple of people who had no knowledge that it existed. Its lack of profile may result from an assumption that it is all about takeaway cakes – not unreasonable – but far from true.

The lunchtime crowd shows this newcomer has quickly made a name for itself, perhaps because it offers a satisfying, if basic midday fayre, which is appreciated by economical locals. As you can see it isn´t expensive, we could have reduced our bill by a third if we hadn´t ordered a spirit but the measure looked enormous and I enjoyed the complementary strawberries soaked in orange juice.

After a frustrating start, this turned out to be a delightful destination, so we hope it survives for more visits. From its nature, it’s probably not a place for a night out, but for lunch when a sarni and drink is substantial enough it’s well worth bearing in mind.

Update:yesterday while in Palm Mar we saw the original restaurant we had wanted to visit was open. We stopped for lunch 3 different tapas and they were excellent. Talking with the manager (and boy can he talk!) he said he and his partner Michael had returned to the UK because of an infection that had been wrongly diagnosed in Tenerife. Obviously not nice and quite poorly as he needed the use of a wheelchair at the airport but as it had been around for several weeks there was no excuse for not notifying customers. However that said the food was nice and different to the usual tapas, the manager pleasant if a bit intrusive when we ladies are trying to talk (I don´t need to hear about how many lovers a man has had, especially while eating my lunch!!) but we would certainly go back.

One Response to Baobab – Palm Mar, Tenerife

We went to the Tapas place for a drink & were given a complimentary taster with it which was lovely x

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For starters, what you read is not written by a professional travel writer. I do it because I remember what it was like to have the dream. To want to live somewhere with beautiful beaches, wild seas, sun filled days, glorious sunsets and whilst most of the time it is idyllic nowhere is Nirvana. So I tell you if it is good and I tell you if it is bad. The difference is I don´t do it because someone is paying me to say nice things about Tenerife.